'Allo 'Allo | Culture Northern Ireland allo1.jpg I remember ‘Allo ‘Allo from my childhood, as I’m sure many TV addicts do if they were raised in an age when they were trapped by access to a mere four channels. It was broadcast on BBC One over ten years, from 1982 to 1992 – a whole seven years longer than the Nazi occupation of France, during which period it is set. 'Allo 'Allo was created by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd who, together or separately, also produced Dad’s Army, Hi-De-Hi and Are You Being Served?. These were some of the most popular sitcoms in post-war British comedy, defining the form for a generation. Much like other cornerstones of the era, however, such as the the Carry On series, for example, they have not aged so gracefully. This stage version was also written by Croft and Lloyd, and was performed by the cast of the original television series over a number of years after the show was cancelled. The plot condenses some of the more salient points of the show, which viewers may or may not recall.

Essentially Rene Artois, a bar owner in the French town of Nouvion, is caught at the centre of a web of intrigue and suspicion spun around a plundered painting, the ‘Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies’, which he has hidden in a sausage in his kitchen. In addition to this, Artois is concealing a pair of British airmen in his basement. In true farcical style, Artois attempts to keep everyone happy – the Resistance, the occupying Nazis, the Gestapo – while also keeping his affairs with his two waitresses from each other and from his wife, the sharp-tongued Edith. Artois's struggles make for lots of to-ing and fro-ing, many mix-ups and misunderstandings. 'Allo 'Allo the stage version, therefore, is a quintessential British farce with lots of laughs and plenty of innuendo thrown in for good measure. This current version is being staged by Showcase Productions NI, a cross-community organisation that has been touring for over a dozen years. They previously produced musical projects exclusively, such as the much-loved Blood Brothers, but have been branching out in recent years to non-musical projects such as this.

Aside from a couple of old hands in the main roles, the cast is entirely populated by newcomers or novices. The performances are, in the main, strong and energetic. Those with less experience occasionally lack projection and confidence. No doubt further performances will smooth these issues out. The staging is simple but effective, ensuring that the pace only flags in the second half. The whirlwind script demands so many transitions between rooms, basements and boudoirs that momentum in the individual scenes is inevitably lost during the numerous set changes. My only real, lasting gripe with the show is with the script. As mentioned, the tropes of the show have not aged well. This style of comedy verges on the archaic, which can be tiresome, and the unreconstructed attitude (to put it lightly) toward some of the female characters leaves a particularly sour taste in the mouth. During this performance in Downpatrick’s Down Arts Centre, the older crowd don’t seem to have any such qualms with the content, so it’s possible that my concerns could be ascribed to generational differences. Not that I don't laugh in certain parts – Croft and Lloyd were great comedy writers, after all.

Despite such qualms, the actors, experienced and otherwise, acquit themselves well, which is satisfying to see. When smaller venues like the Down Arts Centre are having to compete with larger venues in nearby cities – and their glitzy international productions – surely giving young actors the opportunity to gain experience in front of a paying audience is to be lauded. 'Allo 'Allo visits Iveagh Movie Studios , Banbridge on February 28, Waterside Theatre , Derry~Londonderry on April 5, Braid Arts Centre , Ballymena on April 6, Riverside Theatre , Coleraine on May 18 and Courtyard Theatre , Ballyearl on July 5-6. Topics David Croft | Are You Being Served? Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Are You Being Served?

Wiki 27 September 2011(2011-09-27) (aged 89) Death Place 1971 Best Comedy Script Dad's Army Desmond Davies award (1981) Major David John Croft OBE (7 September 1922 – 27 September 2011), born David John Andrew Sharland, was an English writer, producer and director. He is particularly noted for producing and co-writing a string of popular BBC sitcoms including Dad's Army , Are You Being Served? , It Ain't Half Hot Mum , Hi-de-Hi! 'Allo 'Allo! and You Rang, M'Lord? . Contents Edit Croft was born into a showbiz family: his mother, Annie Croft (1896-1995), was a famous stage actress and his father, Reginald Sharland (1886-1944), had a successful career as a radio actor in Hollywood. His first public appearance was at age 7, when he was seen in a commercial which aired in cinemas.

[1] After that, his acting career in films "began and ended" [2] with his uncredited appearance as Perkins in the film Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939). Croft was educated at St John's Wood Preparatory School and Rugby School in Warwickshire . [3] He married theatrical agent Ann Callender on 2 June 1952, and they had seven children. [4] Croft enlisted in the Royal Artillery] in 1942. He served during the Second World War in North Africa, India and Singapore. After contracting rheumatic fever in North Africa, was sent home to convalesce and then underwent officer training at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst . He was posted to India, arriving as the war in Europe ended, and was assigned to the Essex Regiment, rising to the rank of Major . When his military service ended he began working in the entertainment industry, as an actor, singer and writer, eventually settling as a TV producer. Croft relocated to the Northeast of England to work at Tyne Tees Television , where he produced many editions of the variety show The One O'Clock Show.

For Tyne Tees Croft also directed and produced the admags Ned's Shed and Mary Goes to Market, as well as producing his first sitcom, Under New Management, set in a derelict pub in the North of England. [5] Career Edit After leaving Tyne Tees Television to work at the BBC in the mid-1960s, he produced a number of the Corporation's popular sitcoms such as Beggar My Neighbour , Further Up Pompeii! and Hugh and I . It was while producing Hugh and I that he was introduced to actor Jimmy Perry , who handed him an unsolicited script for a pilot called The Fighting Tigers about the British Home Guard during the Second World War. Croft liked the idea. The two men co-wrote nine series of the show, which was retitled Dad's Army, as well as a feature film and a stage show based on it. [6] While Dad's Army was still running, Croft began to co-write Are You Being Served? with Jeremy Lloyd . He was to continue both writing partnerships for the rest of his career in several hit series including It Ain't Half Hot Mum , Hi-de-Hi! , 'Allo 'Allo!

and You Rang, M'Lord? . His last full series Oh, Doctor Beeching! , broadcast from 1995 to 1997, was co-written with Richard Spendlove . He created a television pilot in 2007, entitled Here Comes The Queen, with Jeremy Lloyd. This pilot starred Wendy Richard and Les Dennis , but because of Wendy Richard's death the show never went to a full series. [7] As a producer, Croft's regular practice was to signal the end of an episode with the caption "You Have Been Watching ...", followed by vignettes of the main cast. Death David Croft died in his sleep on 27 September 2011, at his home in Portugal, twenty days after his 89th birthday. [8] Awards and honours Edit Croft became an Officer of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire with Jimmy Perry in 1978 for services to television. He also received the 1981 Desmond Davis award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts , for his outstanding contributions to the industry.

[9] Croft's awards include: David Croft: Comedy writer and producer who helped create hits like ‘Dad’s Army’, ‘'Allo, ’Allo’ and ‘Are You Being Served?’ | The Independent Tuesday 27 September 2011 23:00 BST Click to follow The Independent Online For 30 years, David Croft helped create some of the most memorable characters in situation comedy. Captain Mainwaring, Corporal Jones, Mr Humphries, Mrs Slocombe, Sergeant-Major Williams, Bombardier "Gloria" Beaumont, Ted Bovis, Gladys Pugh and René Artois became television legends, loved by millions who tuned in to Dad's Army, Are You Being Served?, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Hi-de-Hi! and 'Allo 'Allo! Croft's skills as a comedy producer enabled him to spot potential successes and become part of two long-term writing partnerships, with Jimmy Perry and Jeremy Lloyd.

In Dad's Army (1968-77), he moulded Perry's raw idea – originally entitled The Fighting Tigers and based on the actor-turned-writer's experiences in the Home Guard – into one of television's best loved sitcoms. Croft turned round Perry's premise of featuring a dynamic sergeant with a silly-ass bank manager as the commanding officer. Perry had envisaged Arthur Lowe as the sergeant, but the BBC's head of comedy, Michael Mills, suggested also hiring John Le Mesurier. "I was not happy with the thought of John Le Mesurier as the officer and bank manager," Croft explained. "John is at his best when terribly laidback. At the same time he had been strongly suggested by Michael Mills. When the Head of Comedy makes a definite suggestion you have to have a very good reason for not taking any notice. We hit on the idea that maybe Arthur should be the pompous grammar school bank manager who appoints himself officer, while John should play the ex-public school chief clerk and sergeant." Thus was born the running class joke of having a lower-middle-class bank manager, Captain Mainwaring, commanding a man from the upper classes, Sergeant Wilson.

Around this pair, Croft and Perry added five other distinctive characters: Lance Corporal Jones (Clive Dunn), the butcher and veteran of the Battle of Omdurman, who met any emergency with the cry of "Don't panic!"; Private Godfrey (Arnold Ridley), the old man of the platoon; Private Frazer (John Laurie), the undertaker with the gloomy prediction: "We're doomed, we're all doomed!"; Private Walker (James Beck), the spiv; and Private Pike (Ian Lavender), the junior of the platoon mollycoddled by his mother. There were concerns among BBC management about whether Britain's "finest hour" should be the subject of humour, but they were appeased with the guarantee that Dad's Army would be a nostalgic look at the country's triumphant past. Even then, the programme was not an immediate hit and, when viewer research at the end of the first series proved negative, Croft buried the paperwork. A slow-burning success, the sitcom went on for nine years and 81 episodes, attracting audiences of up to 20 million. There was also a feature film, stage show and radio adaptation.

Born near Poole in 1922, the son of actors, Reginald Sharland and Anne Croft, Croft made his first screen appearance with his mother in a cinema commercial for flour. He was brought up in London, and when his father left for Hollywood his mother, a musical comedy star, switched to producing stage shows. While at Rugby, Croft made his stage début in her production of Primrose Time in Brighton (1937) before training at secretarial college and taking singing lessons. When his brother Peter played John Mills' batman in Goodbye, Mr Chips (1939), Croft was cast as the batman in flashback. When war came, the family left London for Bournemouth, where Croft worked as an air-raid warden while appearing on stage and in a BBC radio revue, Acid Drops. He served in the Royal Artillery, and while in India was made entertainments officer, before moving to Singapore. After a short spell in the War Office, Croft returned to acting. Repertory theatre was followed by his West End début as Eric in the musical Wild Violets (1950).

Then for 10 years he organised concert parties and summer variety shows and put on productions at Butlin's camps – more experiences he would draw on later. He wrote pantomimes for productions around the country and at the London Palladium, sang in TV shows and joined Cyril Ornadel to write songs for BBC programmes such as The Petula Clark Show and Variety Parade. Keen to produce, Croft turned down a six-month contract as a BBC trainee when Associated Rediffusion hired him to put together programme ideas and read scripts. He was made redundant after two years, but continued staging summer shows and pantomimes, then was offered a producer's job at Tyne Tees, where he made 250 programmes, including Under New Management, a sitcom set in a derelict pub, with storylines by Johnny Speight. The first sitcom he wrote himself, with music, was Sunshine Street. Moving to the BBC in 1961, Croft produced and directed episodes of The Benny Hill Show before finding his first sitcom success as a producer with Hugh and I, starring Terry Scott as the ever-unemployed bachelor son and Hugh Lloyd as his mother's money-earning lodger.

He followed it up with another popular sitcom, Beggar My Neighbour, with Peter Jones, June Whitfield and Reg Varney. When Croft later cast Jimmy Perry as Varney's even more loud-mouthed brother, the newcomer presented his idea for Dad's Army and the BBC's head of comedy suggested they write it together. Another actor and aspiring writer, Jeremy Lloyd, approached Croft with a script based on his experiences as a junior assistant at Simpson's department store in Piccadilly. As with Dad's Army, Croft reshaped the idea, adding to the menswear-department setting the ladies' outfitting staff. The result was Are You Being Served? (1973-85),another long-running hit with an ensemble cast, set in the Grace Brothers store. Unlike Dad's Army it relied on innuendo and double entendre, such as the references to Mrs Slocombe's "pussy". Croft had another hit up his sleeve, co-written with Perry.

It Ain't Half Hot, Mum (1974-81) was based on Perry's years in a Royal Artillery concert party in India, where Croft had gained similar experience: Battery Sergeant-Major Williams (Windsor Davies) faced an uphill task whipping the performers into shape. The local wallah, Rangi Ram, was played by a blacked-up Michael Bates, which led to accusations of racism, alongside those of sexism for the Sergeant-Major's references to his subordinates as a "bunch of poofs", but, with audiences of up to 17 million, Croft and Perry were unperturbed. The partnership continued with another long-running series, again drawing on the pair's experiences, both having staged shows at Butlin's. Hi-de-Hi! featured the entertainments staff of the fictional Maplin's, set in 1959, when holiday camps were at the height of their popularity. They followed it with You Rang, M'Lord?, based on the stories that Perry had heard about his grandfather, who was a butler in a house in Berkeley Square.

As if his writing success with Perry were not enough, Croft had continued his partnership with Jeremy Lloyd and produced most episodes of all these sitcoms. After the disastrous Come Back Mrs Noah and Oh Happy Band!, which was little more successful, Croft and Lloyd hit winning form again with 'Allo 'Allo! (1984-92), a spoof of the drama series Secret Army and French resistance films. Catchphrases again abounded – "Leesten very carefully – I will say zis only once" – and though it was also subject to criticisms of racism and sexism, up to 17 million watched it. Grace and Favour followed, transplanting Mrs Slocombe, Captain Peacock, Mr Humphries, Miss Brahms and Mr Rumbold from Are You Being Served? to a rundown country manor house bequeathed to them by Young Mr Grace, which they ran as a hotel. Oh, Doctor Beeching! was Croft's final sitcom success, devised with a new writer, Richard Spendlove, a former railway worker who sent him the idea for a sitcom about the staff of a small country station fighting for survival during the axing of lines and stations in the 1960s.

Blaming a new BBC management regime for its failure to commission a third series, Croft claimed in his 2004 autobiography, You Have Been Watching..., that it had "little sympathy for standard family comedy". Certainly, Croft could claim to have had his finger on the nation's comedy pulse for almost half a century. He once said: "The British have a great sense of humour – especially of the robust, vulgar, music-hall variety – and we are also alone in that we like to laugh at ourselves rather than say how good we are. We send up our class structure, our pomposity and our incompetence. The truth, however, is that we are a competent, artistic and clever lot of people." David John Sharland (David Croft), writer, director and producer: born Sandbanks, Dorset 7 September 1922; OBE 1978; married 1952 Ann Callender (four sons, three daughters); died Portugal 27 September 2011.

David Croft Biography Croft & Ornadel David Croftï¿½s Biography David Croft was born on 7th September 1922 as David John Sharland, son to the infamous stage actress Annie Croft and Reginald Sharland, a successful radio actor in Hollywood. Born into the world of show business it was inevitable that David would become intertwined in the theatrical scene, even as early as 7 years old, when he appeared in a cinema commercial. Later down the line at the young age of 17, David landed his first role as Perkins in Goodbye, Mr. Chips. This was regarded as the beginning, middle and end of his film career. Soon to follow was Davidï¿½s enrolment into the army in 1942. After graduating from Sandhurst as an Officer; David served in the Royal Artillery for two and a half years in England and North Africa he was then commissioned and served in India and Singapore where he rose to the rank of Major. As soon as he was de-mobbed in 1947 he followed in his parents' footsteps.

It was those years that later gave David the material for classic comedies such as Dadï¿½s Army, Ainï¿½t Half Hot Mum and ï¿½Allo ï¿½Allo. The next big turning point for David was meeting Freddie Carpenter who produced many pantomimes for Howard & Wyndham across the UK. This lead to David writing many scripts such as Aladdin, Goldilocks, The Three Bears, Cinderella, Humpty Dumpty and Babes in the Wood. Continuing to make a living through writing, through his lifelong friend, composer/conductor, Cyril Ornadel, David met Fiona Bentley. Fiona managed to obtain the licenses to adapt and musicalise a number of Beatrix Potter classics. Peter Rabbit, Mrs Tiggy Winkle, Jemima Puddle-Duck to name just a few. Cyril wrote the music and David wrote the scripts and lyrics. The cast on these records included actors as diverse as Cicely Courtnedge and Vivien Leigh! With the arrival of independent television in 1955, David joined Associated Rediffusion as Head of the Light Entertainment Script Department.

He then moved to Newcastle to work on the 1959 launch of Tyne Tees Television, where he remained for a short period as a producer, director and writer, before eventually joining the BBC. In his early days there, he produced and often directed an extraordinary array of successful comedies; The Benny Hill Show, Steptoe and Son, Hugh and I, Up Pompeii and Beggar My Neighbour, to name just a few. It was Beggar my Neighbour which caused him to cross paths with Jimmy Perry for the first time. In fact, it was Ann Callender, the theatrical agent, (who was also Davidï¿½s wife!), who introduced them to one another. This partnership turned out to be one of British television's most successful writing duos. Together they wrote Dadï¿½s Army, It Ainï¿½t Half Hot Mum, Hi-De-Hi and You Rang, Mï¿½Lord? Dadï¿½s Army is still showing on television today, forty years after its original transmission! One of the strengths of this remarkable partnership was the autobiographical nature of their shows, which proved to be the foundation of the Croft/Perry success.

Davidï¿½s ï¿½hitsï¿½ continued when he joined forces with Jeremy Lloyd, producing and writing shows such as Are You Being Served? ï¿½Allo ï¿½Allo, Grace and Favour, Come Back Mrs Noah and, Oh Happy Band. Davidï¿½s final television series before retiring from the BBC was Oh Doctor Beeching another nostalgia-based comedy, this time set in a 1960s rural railway station; David produced and co-wrote this series with Richard Spendlove, a hugely popular radio broadcaster. David has also produced and directed television in Australia for Channel 7 and in Los Angeles for CBS and Paramount. In 1978 he was awarded the O.B.E. for services to television, and in 1982 the Desmond Davies award for his outstanding contribution to the industry.

Name: David John Croft David Croft, genius behind nearly 50 years of TV comedy, dies at 89 | Television & radio | The Guardian David Croft David Croft, genius behind nearly 50 years of TV comedy, dies at 89 Creator of 'Allo 'Allo, Are You Being Served?, Dad's Army and Hi-De-Hi dies in his sleep at his home in Portugal David Croft worked on some of the highest-profile sitcoms in British TV history, including 'Allo 'Allo, above. Photograph: Georges Dekeerle/Getty Images Tuesday 27 September 2011 16.46 EDT First published on Tuesday 27 September 2011 16.46 EDT Share on Messenger Close Generally, when one of the great veterans of television dies, the next weekend's schedules are hastily rearranged to include a repeat as a tribute. But, remarkably, although David Croft was 89 when he died in his sleep on Tuesday at his house in Portugal after being largely retired for almost 20 years, one of his shows is still running.

A 1969 episode of Dad's Army, which he wrote with Jimmy Perry, was shown last Saturday on BBC2. So, in this case, the proper memorial is not the screening of one of the old shows but the fact that one of the old shows is still screening – to healthy ratings and respect – five decades after it was made. And, while most of those who work in the fickle and perishable business of TV would be glad to have created one memorable franchise, Croft, improbably, worked (in various combinations of writer, director and producer) on five of the highest-profile sitcoms in British TV history. Apart from Dad's Army, he also created with Perry the holiday camp comedy Hi-De-Hi and the Raj sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum and, with Jeremy Lloyd, the department store show Are You Being Served? and the French resistance farce 'Allo 'Allo. Between them, these shows remained in production for 47 years. In one other sense, apart from longevity, the shows on which Croft worked were exceptions from the general run of British TV comedy.

Whereas most programmes – from Hancock's Half Hour to The Inbetweeners – were set in the era of transmission, Croft specialised in the historical sitcom: all his famous five, apart from Are You Being Served?, were set in the past and even Grace Brothers department store was a comedic, old-fashioned version of retail reality. Croft had served during the second world war and this period and its aftermath were always his favoured territory. His final and relatively failed comedy Oh, Doctor Beeching! (1995) was again set in the 1950s. Otherwise, though, the series set the template for TV comedy. There is a strong case for arguing that the classic English sitcom has revolved around the 3 Cs – character, catchphrase and class – and the Croft franchises were the apotheosis of this approach. The shows tended to give a well-respected British actor a new level of national celebrity: Arthur Lowe's Captain Mainwaring in Dad's Army, Mollie Sugden's Mrs Slocombe in AYBS?, Gorden Kaye as Rene in 'Allo, 'Allo. The main comedy would generally come from a stand-off between a snob and a member of the lower orders.

And these central figures would have signature sayings that still spool through the head of any viewer who grew up watching them: stupid boy!, are you free? And, indeed, Mrs Slocombe's pussy, whose hairs would stand up on end at moments of fear. In times of caution and "compliance" in broadcasting, it now seems astonishing that Are You Being Served? was able to deliver such sustained sexual innuendo into peak-time family viewing. Croft, though, always insisted that he told BBC executives that the lines referred to the shop assistant's cat. But Dad's Army and 'Allo 'Allo were criticised by veterans or bereaved relatives from the conflicts they depicted. And what many see as racial and homosexual stereotypes in It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Are You Being Served? have given them a much less visible afterlife than the Home Guard show. As is often the way with ageing purveyors of comedy, Croft bitterly criticised what he called the "vomit comedy" of his successors.

But it would be hard to find anyone of any age in TV comedy who does not recognise the exemplary brilliance of Dad's Army and Croft also proved influential in combining the roles of writer, director and producer: a rare multi-skilling at the time but now common in the Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant generation. Dad's Army and 'Allo 'Allo creator David Croft dies aged 89 | Metro News Rachel Tarley for Metro.co.uk Tuesday 27 Sep 2011 2:39 pm David Croft, a legend of situation comedy who co-created British classics like ‘Allo Allo, Dad’s Army and Hi-de-Hi, has died in his home in Portugal at the age of 89. David Croft has died aged 89 (Picture: PA) Croft co-wrote and produced a plethora of successful comedy series for the BBC throughout the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s, including several army-based sitcoms. His partnership with Jimmy Peters led to a string of hits such as Dad’s Army, It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, Hi-De-Hi and You Rang, M’Lord?

He also teamed up with Jeremy Lloyd on shows including ‘Allo ‘Allo, Are You Being Served? and Grace and Favour. He was honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the British Comedy Awards in 2003. In a statement, Croft’s family said he had ‘died peacefully in his sleep at his house in Portugal earlier today’, adding that he was a ‘truly a great man’. They added that Croft ‘will be missed by all who had the great fortune of knowing and loving him. We know that he would of been proud that you had all been watching.’ The son of radio actor Reginald Sharland and stage actress Annie Croft, John was born David John Sharland into a showbusiness family and he pursued an acting career until the outbreak of World War II, when he enlisted in the army. His experience of fighting gave him much of the inspiration for his military comedies, but his other work, including contributions to Are You Being Served? and Hi-de-Hi proved equally successful with BBC viewers.

Awarded an OBE for services to television in 1978, Croft’s lengthy career came to an end with his retirement in 1993, after he wrapped up work on his last production Oh Doctor Beeching. He is survived by his wife, children and grandchildren. More David Croft obituary | Television & radio | The Guardian David Croft obituary Comedy writer behind TV hits such as Dad's Army, Hi-de-Hi! and Are You Being Served? David Croft, left, next to a statue of Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring in Dad's Army, and Bill Pertwee. It was unveiled in Thetford, Norfolk, which was used as the fictional Walmington-on-Sea in the TV series. Photograph: Albanpix/Rex Features Tuesday 27 September 2011 13.53 EDT First published on Tuesday 27 September 2011 13.53 EDT Share on Messenger Close David Croft , who has died aged 89, was a survivor of an almost extinct breed in British television: a comedy producer and writer who did not need a marketing survey to tell him what would make audiences laugh.

If he found a comedy idea or script funny, he reckoned that it might well amuse others. The axiom came to seem old-fashioned among television executives hungry for ratings, but during a period of more than 30 years, the shows he and his co-writers created – Dad's Army, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Are You Being Served?, 'Allo 'Allo and Hi-de-Hi! – confirmed his view that, for a writer or producer of comedy, it helped to have a sense of humour. Croft once said with pride that he had never been commissioned to continue an existing comedy series. Specific ideas or scripts were always submitted, so that they could be taken elsewhere if they were not welcomed. The idea of supervised hack work on other people's ideas was foreign to him, and the result was a string of long-running comedy successes. Born in Sandbanks, in Poole, Dorset, David was the youngest son of Anne Croft, a former musical comedy star and theatre manager, and an actor, Reginald Sharland. The marriage ended when the boy was nine, after which he took his mother's name.

Croft had first wandered on to the stage at the age of four, and said later that from then on he never wanted to do anything else. He went to St John's Wood prep school, north London, and Rugby school, Warwickshire. At the age of 16, he became the BBC's youngest juvenile lead when he was cast as the hero of the musical Charing Cross Road. Roy Speer, the director in charge of the audition at which Croft presented himself with square-jawed confidence, had not expected the candidate to be so young and cast him with some hesitation. The second world war fed his taste for the absurd. He was adjudged too old to go into the Home Guard before his call-up, and became an ARP – Air Raid Precautions – warden before the army claimed him. After service in North Africa, he went to India and Singapore as an officer, and rose to the rank of major. On being demobilised in 1947, he worked in repertory, where he met and married his wife, Ann Callender, an actor and later a theatrical agent, with whom he soon had a son, Nicholas, and a daughter, Penelope, the first two of his seven children.

Red-haired and dapper, Croft appeared often in West End musical comedies and at the BBC, where he was a singer with the orchestra that provided the backing for many stars in The Billy Cotton Band Show. Writing pantomime scripts for the theatrical producers Howard & Wyndham was followed by a collaboration with his lifelong friend the composer Cyril Ornadel , providing the lyrics for a musical about the record industry commissioned by the impresario Bernard Delfont, and starring the husband-and-wife musical comedy team Cicely Courtneidge and Jack Hulbert. Croft said of their working regime that it was strictly a nine-to-six job: "None of this experimental waiting for inspiration or sitting up half the night for us." Showbiz columnists asked if they were the British Rodgers and Hammerstein, and eventually received the definite answer: no. The arrival of independent television in 1955 proved more promising. Croft became a script editor for Rediffusion, and was then a light entertainment producer for Tyne Tees, writing many jingles. In the late 1960s he was still fascinated by the idea of musical comedy, and turned HG Wells's novel about a liberated woman, Ann Veronica, into a musical produced by Harry Homer.

But it was not until he teamed up with the writer Jimmy Perry and created the first episodes of Dad's Army, that joyous look at the British class system and eccentricity through the keyhole of a Home Guard platoon, that he found his niche, as writer, encourager and enabler of television comedy. After the show began in 1968 the first two series were not immediately popular: a viewers' survey showed that few were positively in favour. Croft, by then a BBC executive, suppressed an internal report, and soldiered on regardless. In 1970, he and Perry won the Writers' Guild of Great Britain award for best British TV script. They co-wrote 81 episodes, which ran until 1977, with a feature-film version in 1971. The winning duo went on to co-write 56 episodes of It Ain't Half Hot Mum, the saga of a British army concert party in the tropics (1974-81), 58 episodes of the holiday camp romp Hi-de-Hi (1980-88) and 26 episodes of the stately home farce You Rang, M'Lord?

(1988-93). That was only one of Croft's co-writing partnerships. He also teamed up with Jeremy Lloyd for 69 episodes of Are You Being Served? (1973-85), the department store series in which John Inman made an impact as the over-solicitous and over-the-top sales assistant. At first, BBC executives were not convinced of its appeal and were fearful of being politically incorrect. "You can't have the poof," said Bill Cotton, Billy Cotton's son and the head of BBC light entertainment, subsequently relenting with: "Oh, get on with it, then!" Croft always disliked the PC straitjacket, especially as his non-discriminatory policy was to send up everybody. There were also, with Lloyd, the first six of the nine series from 1984 onwards of 'Allo 'Allo, managing to quarry comedy from the Nazis and their truculent populace in occupied France during the second world war. Lloyd got the idea late one night, after he and Croft had spent the day vainly trying to bring another idea to fruition. Lloyd telephoned Croft at once. They began working on it the next day.

As ever, he even-handedly gave every devil his due. "Our Germans are insensitive, nest-feathering and kinky, the French are devious, nest-feathering and immoral, and the British are real twits," he explained. Croft's working methods varied. For the first series of Dad's Army, he and Perry wrote two episodes each, turn and turn about. Usually he and Lloyd worked closely together on each script. Either way, the arrangement depended on trust and his belief in the repertory principle: he always preferred to work with people he knew, believing that a craving for "new faces" was a journalistic rather than artistic preoccupation. Croft claimed that his comedy harked back to a gentler era: "I write ordinary, non-controversial comedy which gives families a good laugh. They know nobody's going to say, 'shag'. If you took all the swearing out of Billy Connolly's act, what would be left of it?" He was appointed OBE in 1978. His wife and children survive him.

• David Croft, writer, actor and producer, born 7 September 1922; died 27 September 2011 Comedy writer and producer also created It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Hi-de-Hi! with Jimmy Perry. By John Plunkett Published: 27 Sep 2011 David Croft & Jeremy Lloyd Croft & Ornadel Croft and Lloyd Jeremy Lloyd (born Danbury, Essex, 22nd July 1930) started off his career as an actor, but is probably best known for his work as a screenwriter and the creator and co-author of several successful British sitcoms in partnership with David Croft. Lloyd made his film debut as an actor in 1960 in School for Scoundrels, and appeared in numerous film and television comedies during the 1960s and 1970s, notably Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In as a regular performer in 1969-70.

It is difficult to say when Lloyd and Croft first met, but they were nodding acquaintances for many years, both writing sketches individually and parodies of songs for The Billy Cotton Band Show, in which Lloyd played again the British Public School idiot he was so loved for in America Their paths crossed again when Croft was asked by Sir Bill Cotton to bring his expertise to help a programme by Jilly Cooper called It's Awfully Bad for your Eyes Darling (1971). Lloyd was playing a part in it ï¿½ (another Public School idiot!). Croft & Lloyd collaborated to re-write the first five minutes of the show to give it a few more laughs but, alas they failed to save it. However, during this time Lloyd mentioned that he had an outline for a show based on his experiences in the men's department at Simpsons of Piccadilly. Croft liked the idea a lot, so they got together to write a show that became Are You Being Served? (1972-85).

Their nodding acquaintance became a life-long friendship, a hilarious and prolific partnership that also produced Come Back Mrs Noah (1978), Oh Happy Band (1980), ï¿½Allo ï¿½Allo (1982-92), and the Are You Being Served? spin-off, Grace and Favour (1992-93.) Are you being served? was nominated for a BAFTA in 1977 for Best Situation Comedy and The Return of ï¿½Allo ï¿½Allo won the RTS award for Best Network Entertainment Programme in 2007. ï¿½Jeremy is without doubt the funniest person that I ever met, a brilliant raconteur with one-liners second to none. Due to his fantastic enthusiasm and energy, we often worked at a tremendous speed, sometimes completing an episode in two days. I loved working with him.ï¿½ David Croft. Jeremy Lloyd dead aged 84 from pneumonia | Daily Mail Online Comedy writer Jeremy Lloyd, who created sitcoms including Are You Being Served? and 'Allo 'Allo! has died aged 84.

His agent said he died in a London hospital yesterday evening from pneumonia. Alexandra Cann said: 'Jeremy was a great wit and always a mass of original ideas. Comedy writer Jeremy Lloyd, who created sitcom Are You Being Served? and 'Allo 'Allo! has died aged 84 Mr Lloyd with his wife Lizzie Moberley, an interior designer, in 2008. The couple married this year 'He had a wonderfully original mind and will be greatly missed.' Mr Lloyd, who was married three times including to Joanna Lumley, created a string of hit shows with his writing partner David Croft. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share He was given an OBE for services to comedy in 2012. Accepting his OBE, Lloyd said he was 'astounded' to be honoured for doing something he enjoyed.

He said: 'it is, after all, what I love doing and couldn’t have done without the many wonderful actors, directors and others who made my work come to life.' Writing about their marriage, which lasted less than a year, Lumley said: 'He was witty, tall and charming - we should have just had a raging affair' Mr Lloyd and Joanna Lumley at Patrick Lichfield's wedding - they were married for less than a year JEREMY LLOYD'S CAREER HIGHLIGHTS Lloyd began his career as a writer in 1958 before making his film debut two years later in 1960 in School for Scoundrels. He appeared in numerous comedies during the 1960s and 1970s and was a regular performer on US show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In in 1969. Lloyd starred in two films with the Beatles, including a Hard Day's Night in 1964 and in Help! in 1965. In 1969 he filmed a scene with Peter Sellers for The Magic Christian, which co-starred Ringo Starr. His first major success as a comedy writer was with Are You Being Served?

in 1972, on which he worked with David Croft. They subsequently produced 'Allo 'Allo! and a spinoff of Are You Being Served?, Grace & Favour which aired in 1992. Jeremy also wrote the poem for the popular Captain Beaky album and books in 1980. Jeremy played the eccentric chimney sweep, Berthram Fortesque Wynthrope-Smythe aka Bert Smith in The Avengers episode, From Venus With Love in 1967. In 1974 he was a British Army officer in Murder on the Orient Express. He worked as a paint salesman and a road digger before getting into showbusiness and enjoyed a screen career of his own before devoting himself to providing the lines for others. He made his film debut in School For Scoundrels and had minor roles in the Beatles films Help!, released in 1965, and A Hard Day's Night, released in 1964. He also featured in classics such as Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines in 1965.

He also had roles in Doctor in Clover with James Robertson Justice, and The Wrong Box with John Mills, Michael Caine and Peter Cook. In 1974 he was a British Army officer in Murder on the Orient Express. Lloyd was later a regular writer and performer on popular US show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Mr Lloyd said he got the job after answering the phone at his agent's office to the show's producer, George Schlatter, who was looking for someone who could act and write. He explained: 'I said "The best possible person you could get is Jeremy Lloyd and we handle him". 'And George said "Is he available?" And I said: "I'll just check his book... just a second... he's got a day off from filming tomorrow and he can see you." 'I wasn't filming at all, of course.

"Can he be at the Dorchester at 9?" And I said "Don't worry, I'll make sure he's there."' Jeremy Lloyd and actress Carole Ashby (left), who were engaged for three years, and Jeremy Lloyd with actress Barbara Trenton (right) The screenwriter was also briefly engaged to actress Charlotte Rampling (pictured), who acted as his best man during his marriage to Lizzy Moberley Mr Lloyd, the son of an army officer and a dancer, was born in London but brought up in Manchester by his grandmother. He regularly appeared on the hugely popular Billy Cotton Band Show playing what he described as 'an idiot in a bowler hat' and - more importantly - it was where he met Croft. They teamed up on a short-lived sitcom It's Awfully Bad For Your Eyes Darling, which starred Lumley, before working up an idea based on Lloyd's past experiences working at Simpsons of Piccadilly, which became Are You Being Served?, set in the fictional Grace Brothers store. Its run spanned 13 years and attracted audiences of up to 22million.

It became known for its catchphrase 'I’m free!; as well as Mrs Slocombe’s ongoing dramas with a high maintenance pussy cat. Mr Lloyd was the son of an army officer and dancer and was brought up in Manchester by his grandmother He was given an OBE for services to comedy in 2012 and said he was 'astounded' to be honoured for doing something he enjoyed They worked on further shows such as Come Back Mrs Noah and Oh Happy Band, then struck comedy gold again with 'Allo 'Allo! about the French Resistance, which lasted the best part of a decade. At various times, he also wrote for Jon Pertwee, Morecambe and Wise, Bruce Forsyth and Lionel Blair Writing about their marriage, which lasted less than a year, Lumley said: 'He was witty, tall and charming - we should have just had a raging affair.' His third marriage, to interior designer Lizzy Moberley, took place in central London this June. He said his third bride, who was 49 when they tied the knot, was 'beautiful, clever and sent from heaven on mission impossible'.

Gordon Kaye as Rene and Vicki Michelle as Yvette in Allo Allo The cast of Are You Being Served, along with David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd, at a reunion lunch 25 years after the first episode He was previously due to marry actress Carole Ashby - who played Louise in Allo Allo - but they split in 1990 after a three-year engagement. Lloyd was also briefly engaged to actress Charlotte Rampling, who later acted as his best man when he married Lizzie Moberley. Lloyd was also behind an unlikely hit record in the shape of Captain Beaky which went into the top five in 1980. It was the most well-known hit from two albums produced by the band in 1977 and 1980. The albums led to numerous spinoffs, including two books of poetry, a BBC television shows, a West End musical and a pantomime. The Captain Beaky poems were revived in an all-star tribute show at the Royal Albert Hall in 2011, featuring Joanna Lumley. The writer also claimed to have been invited to Sharon Tate’s house for tea on the night that she was murdered by followers of Charles Manson.

Question: Who produced and created "Allo Allo" and "Are you being Served" with David-Croft?
Answer: Jeremy Lloyd